The present invention relates to a process for the production of glycol monoesters. More particularly, it relates to a process for efficiently producing glycol monoesters by reacting carboxylic acids, olefins, and oxygen in the presence of a specific catalyst.
It is known as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 32413/1970 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 82213/1976, for example, that glycol esters are produced by reacting carboxylic acids, olefins, and oxygen in the presence of a catalyst comprising a palladium component, an oxygen-containing nitrogen compound, and a metal halide.
Such conventional catalysts, however, have a disadvantage in that although their activity is sufficiently high at the beginning of a reaction, it seriously drops in several hours after the start of the reaction, and even if the catalysts are regenerated by reduction, their original activity is difficult to recover sufficiently.